A Midsummer Night's Theft
The night was still. Not even the wind disturbed the leaves that clung to the branches of the trees. Rosalind watched from a distance as Rocket grunts stood guard just outside one of their Hora hideouts. If everything went well, they would not even realize one person slipping in and out. Sliding on cotton gloves and pulling a balaclava cover her head to avoid leaving obvious traces of herself behind for the crime syndicate to uncover, Rose began climbing a tree. With the foliage as cover, she made her way to the roof of the complex, jutting out of the rocky cliff. There was a cracked sunroof, which provided the perfect entryway into the upper levels of the hideout. Rose unclipped a pokéball from her belt and quietly called out Ariados to assist her. After unlocking the sunroof hinge, she directed Ariados to slowly release a string of webbing through the opening and wait for her return. If discovered, Ariados was to flee into the forest and wait there for Rose to return. With the spider webbing acting as a line, Rose was within the hideout. As she was lowered, a scan of the area indicated no patrolling guards. That was a bit strange: a typical security detail would include at least one individual on each floor. However, there was no indication that she was detected. Perhaps the guard was checking one of the rooms on the floor. With that in mind, Rose continued on her way. She gradually made her way to the lowest basement in the hideout, avoiding guards and surveillance devices along the way. It took several hours to navigate through the labyrinth, though she made it to a locked door marked as “Authorized Personnel Only.” It was locked, of course, though by keypad. Rose smirked at the petty device, recalling how she obtained the passcode for the lock. A Rocket executive had a little too much to drink at a bar only a few nights ago and, pressed on by Rose, tried to impress her with Rocket secrets. What was beyond the door was the entire cache of secret weapons. After typing in the code, RKTDABST, the door gave a sharp hiss as the heavy locks slid to the unlocked state. Rose looked around to make sure her actions went unnoticed before opening the heavy door. An arm-based device sat on top of stacks of cardboard boxes. She walked into the room, noting how large the room was, with boxes of varying sizes lining the walls. Picking up the device before her, she examined the gadgetry attached to it. It appeared rather strange, but Rose came to the conclusion that the device was a . It had a compartment shaped perfectly to insert a pokéball, which would then slide into the palm of the user’s hand. But finding such a machine here was strange: this was a invention, from the region. What would Cipher gain from working with Team Rocket? As she pondered the thought, she noticed a flashing red light from within the room. The security system was tripped. Quietly cursing to herself, Rose slipped on the device, and made for the door. However, Rocket grunts were already running from the opposite end of the hallway. Rose yanked a pokéball from her belt, calling out her Weezing. “Weezing, !” she directed. Doing as told, the Weezing filled the area with dense smoke, causing the grunts to lose sight of Rose. Surprised by the maneuver, the two grunts looked around the immediate area hastily, throwing questions at each other as to her whereabouts. They deduced that Rose fled the area and ran around the corner in pursuit. However, Rose tossed the cardboard box that she was hiding under aside and helped her Weezing out of its own hiding place. “Let’s go,” she told her Pokémon companion. The duo sprinted, though it was more of levitating in Weezing’s case, down the hallway, going around the corner to bump into the two grunts from earlier. “There she is!” one of them yelled, throwing out a pokéball to summon a pokémon. However, Rose used the momentum of her run to taking a running leap and kicked the flying pokéball into the challenging grunt’s partner, followed by crashing into the ball’s owner. Although the ball ricocheted off the wall first, it soundly collided with the second grunt’s head. Both went down by the maneuver, allowing Rose and Weezing to continue their escape while the fallen Rocket grunts were dazed. As she ran, Rose hoped that Ariados realized what was happening and left the area. More grunts were appearing on scene, making navigation much more difficult. Pokémon battles with the grunts were becoming more unavoidable, as more and more of them began stepping in to block Rose’s escape. Soon, it came to the point where she could not put it off any longer, surrounded on all sides by grunts. “Abra!” she called out, pressing the button on the front of its pokéball to release it. The fox-like pokémon was in the middle of materializing from the ball as Rose recalled her Weezing. The moment its form became clear, Rose quickly pressed a hand on its head. “ …” she began, though the Abra already realized what was happening. The two were gone instantly, much to the anger and frustration of the Rocket grunts present. However, a slip of paper was left behind. A grunt picked it up to examine it, showing the rest of the Rocket members present what it had prominently displayed: a three-footed dove. The two reappeared in the forest and Rose noticed that her Abra was quivering from the previous scene. She counseled her pokémon, offering it her cologne case to ease her pokémon’s state of mind. It took several minutes, but the Abra calmed down. Rose recalled her Abra, and examined the Snag Machine that she managed to escape with. Even though she knew what it was capable of doing, Rose had no need for the device in particular. In any case, the machine could be useful in the future. With that in mind, Rose set off to find her Ariados. The last of her pokémon should be able to escape. It definitely would take a lot for any Rocket grunt to take down her spider pokémon. Category:Articles by LaviBookman Category:Episodes